Board of Ed needs to cut $1 million

Starting March 9, the Rockville Centre Board of Education will work to close a $1 million budget gap.

The gap was revealed at a preliminary budget meeting on Feb. 24. According to Robert Bartels, assistant superintendent for business, the district’s proposed 2016-17 budget is increasing by nearly $3.2 million. The district is projecting increased revenues of $1.5 million, mainly from state aid. The tax levy cap for next year, however, is just .79 percent, and the proposed tax levy increase is $711,265 — which leaves a hole of nearly $973,000 to fill.

The explanation for the small tax levy cap is in the details of the so-called 2 percent cap, which actually limits the tax levy increase to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Inflation rates have been dropping since last year, and bringing maximum tax levy increases down with them. Last summer, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned that the cap for next year’s spending plans would be very tight.

The district’s preliminary budget adds up to more than $110 million, a 2.97 percent increase over the current year. The main driver of the increase is salaries, which are increasing by more than $2 million. The district’s health insurance and Social Security payments are also going up, by a combined $650,000. Salaries and benefits make up more than three-quarters of the budget.

There is a possibility that staffing costs could change. The budgeted increase is based on existing contracts, but the district is currently negotiating with five of its bargaining units: teachers, office staff, teacher aids, nurses and security guards.

The district has also budgeted $250,000 for new staffing, which could fund two new teachers, two teaching assistants and one aide. Preliminary kindergarten enrollment numbers show that there could be a very large incoming class next year, and the district may have to add two kindergarten classes.

There is also an increase of nearly $500,000 in the district’s debt service, payments it makes to pay back bonds and loans. Some of that increase is attributable to the $45.9 million bond the district issued in 2013 to fund expansions at South Side High School and Floyd B. Watson Elementary School, and for other work across the district. But most of the increase is for other needed repairs to school buildings: classroom ceiling work, bathroom renovations, auditorium seating repairs at William S. Covert Elementary School and more.

“These are additional projects that are requested by the buildings that are subsequent to the bond,” Bartels explained.

There are some steep decreases in spending as well. The district’s contributions to the employee and teacher retirement systems are dropping by $900,000, and it will spend less on curriculum and instruction at every school except Riverside Elementary School and Watson. Spending at Riverside will remain the same, and it will increase by nearly 15 percent, or $3,000, at Watson, which has seen a bump in enrollment, Bartels said. The increase would bring Watson’s per-pupil spending in line with the rest of the district.

The Board of Education will continue discussing the budget at its next meeting on March 9, at 7:30 p.m., in the South Side High cafeteria. The public is welcome to attend.